Interesterified soybean oil is what?

I just ordered pies that cotain:

* interesterified soybean oil
* fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil

What the heck is interesterified oil? And if partially hydrogenating stuff is bad, I'd imagine fully hydrogenating it is worse. Snark off, I'm truly wanting to know, what drives the decision to use hydrogenated oil instead of a whole ingredient. I once made a pie, it didn't go well, but I know it didn't have non-whole ingredients in it. Is it cost that drives this? Do pies just do better with these ingredients? Also, what's that first ingredient (I know I could google ... you guys are my primary google, I admit).

I should mention, this is not a mass quantity baker, she's got a tiny side business that makes these and other pies, they're not private labeled by someone else. They're freaking delicious. Like DELICIOUS. I ordered the pies cuz I want to support her.

* Charter member of the BBB I Love Brussels Sprouts Society
* I do not fix my typos. I shuold, but I dodn't.
* I regret tucking my jeans into my socks with Reebok high-tops well into 1994.

In the US the term interesterified oil, such as interesterified soybean oil, doesn't come up on too many food labels. But now that trans fats must be labeled, this is becoming more popular. It's nothing new. This process has been around for a long time, and interesterified oils have been in use extensively in Europe for over 15 years. In some cases these oils may not be labeled as such.
Basically this is a "solution" to trans fats. Note that trans fats are banned in many parts of the world. The whole problem is that the food industry needs fats that are more solid at room temperature for baking and other purposes. Because hydrogenization creates dangerous trans fats, other solutions are being sought to produce similar results, giving food products a taste and texture consistent with the trans-fat version.

Interesterification is a process by which a saturated fat, mainly stearic acid, is chemically combined with more liquid oils such as soybean or canola oil. The result is an oil that is more solid, but does not contain trans fatty acids. However, some research indicates that interesterified oils are just as dangerous or more dangerous than trans fats, while other research suggests they are a safer alternative.